As huge layoffs take place at Funko and Disney and retailer Game Stop returns to its roots, Richard Gottlieb looks at the repercussions from fans.

Richard is the founder and CEO of Global Toy Experts, a consultancy to US and international toy companies. He is also the publisher of Global Toy News, a web-based magazine founded in 2009 that covers toy industry news and provides resources to the toy industry. Richard co-hosts The Playground Podcast and publishes The Toy Intelligencer report. Here, he shares one of his latest columns with Toy World readers:

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger is taking no prisoners. He engineered his return by forcing CEO Bob Chapek out of his CEO role. Seven thousand layoffs later, he fired Ike Perlmutter, Chairman of Marvel Entertainment.

Perlmutter was an old-time toy guy with stops at Coleco Entertainment and Toy Biz/Marvel Toys. He also spent time at Revco Drug Stores and Remington Razors. Like many of that generation of toy executives, Perlmutter was an aggressive guy who stirred things up. Apparently, he stirred up things too much for Iger’s liking. Marvel Entertainment is now gone, folded into the rest of Disney, and Perlmutter, at age 80, may or may not be finished with the toy and entertainment industry.

One year ago, Funko purchased Mondo, a company famous for producing limited editions of movie posters, clothing, and toys. Yesterday, Funko did a house cleaning of its purchase, laying off most of the staff, including the company’s founders, Rob Jones and Mitch Putnam.

Mondo fans are in an uproar, and Funko has tried to calm things down with CEO Brian Mariotti issuing a statement.

What we can learn from these two incidents is that thanks to social media, fans have far more power than ever before. It’s best to check their temperature before significantly changing the brands they love.

There has been any number of bricks and mortar retailers who have successfully dived into e-commerce. That strategy would have appeared natural for Game Stop, a video game retailer. Apparently, it wasn’t.

According to an article by Wall Street Journal writers Sarah E. Needleman and Dana Mattioli, the company’s owner, Ryan Cohen, vowed when he took over in 2021 “to transform the faltering videogame retailer into an e-commerce juggernaut.”

Things did not go according to plan.

Read Richard’s full article on Global Toy News here.